Blazers

This little rant is a side note, a bonus if you will;) It has nothing to do with refashioning but I wanted to share it anyway.

Over and over I have seen articles on Facebook about Saginaw being such dangerous place. It seems like every three months or so, someone publishes an article listing the most dangerous something. Every time, there are a few cities from Michigan on the list and it makes me so sad. The statistics all seem true and honestly they are scary. I can’t help but feel these articles don’t solve any problems. They seem to perpetuate the idea the area is dangerous, something we already know, but these articles certainly don’t encourage any change.

If you live in Saginaw or really if you live anywhere (which i suspect that you do live somewhere) I would like to take a second to encourage you to love your city. It’s the place where God put you. You have the option to make the best of it and help change the things you don’t like!

I didn’t grow up in Saginaw. I don’t have childhood memories that make me remember it in differently, or in a more positive light. My childhood was spent in Colon Mi, a tiny town 3 hours southwest of Saginaw. Colon is about the cutest little town that you can imagine. Seriously, one blinking light, Amish buggies everywhere, and truly wonderful people. I distinctly remember my parents, lifelong farmers, driving into the metropolis that Saginaw seemed to be, dropping me off at my dorm at SVSU and someone advising them “to not allow me to go past Tittabawassee Rd. because it starts to get a little dangerous.” And maybe they were right, maybe there are parts of Saginaw that are dangerous. Statistically speaking, it seems that there certainly are. But back in Colon, if you walk too close behind one of the Amish buggy’s horses at the Village Market…well that starts to get a little dangerous too.

My point is that even though Saginaw was just ranked as the number 1 most dangerous something… It still has some really incredible things to offer. My husband and I feel called to be in Saginaw, to serve at a church that reaches out to improve the community, to have our business based here, and hopefully someday raise our babies here! The more people that decide to stay, love the city, and pray for it, the faster we will see the revival that we are believing in. The city of Saginaw itself isn’t what makes it dangerous. It’s not like we are close to a volcano that is endangering our lives, it’s the crime rate that makes it so scary. The crime rate comes from the people. The good news is, we can LOVE people and the love of The Lord changes people. It transforms them. To the people that are living next to a volcano, I don’t know if you can love a volcano into behaving itself… I have seen absolutely no scientific research done on this topic. That’s beside the point. I really want to encourage you all to help your community change in the direction you want it to!

So I realize that had NOTHING to to with this red blazer that I’m about to show you EXCEPT that I’m going to start with the after photos today. These photos were taken at the Saginaw Farmer’s Market. There is something about the farmer’s market that makes this city feel alive! The Saginaw Farmer’s Market has so much to offer! The market has the best vegetables around, fresh cupcakes from Sweet Creations, locally grown fruit, they even have a taco stand….AND a hot dog stand with the sweetest man you’ll ever meet. He calls himself The Hot Dog Guy. You name it, they have it, and it all tastes awesome!

So here you have it, a 90’s blazer that looks just like something Murphy Brown would wear transformed into a casual blazer perfect for some produce shopping in a city that I choose to love and believe in!

(Special thanks to Paul’s Produce Farm, a locally owned family farm, for allowing us to take these photos. Also, Paul is doing something right, the green peppers and onions we bought were AMAZING!)

Here are the before photos. This piece really caught my eye. I thought it was pretty cute as is! It just needed a little love. I didn’t realize how incredibly tiny the skirt was. A very little business woman owned this tiny, sassy suit at one point. First I took out the shoulder pads. Then I took in the sleeves by about an inch for a better fit. I got rid of the huge button that made the jacket way too small for me. I decided that it need a little some thing extra. I sorted through my fabric scraps to put a fun lining in the sleeves. This fabric came from my grandma’s pile of quilting scraps. I’m about 99% sure that it was formerly my Grandpa Bill’s dress shirt. When Grandpa Bill passed away, grandma made a quilt for my brother and included pieces of my grandfather’s shirts. This one looks really familiar!

Did I mention that the Saginaw Farmer’s Market has snow cones? They do. They have the best snow cones I have ever had- -EVER! Seriously, the next time you have a Monday, Wednesday, Friday, or Saturday free, do yourself a huge favor and go get a strawberry snow cone!!